Help please im a newbe

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wilmo

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Mar 11, 2011
Messages
307
Location
dumfries, scotland
Hey every one a got my first proper tank the other day ( 25L fluval chi) cause my Betta cube nano. Decided to break. Well heres the problem I had got new fish ( 1 Betta splenda and 2 balloon mollies). So I set. Up the tank and my fish were getting on great and one of my mollies gave birth. Then iv all of a sudden lost both mollies plus babies and losing my Betta. But researching on the net I have reliesed that I need to cylce ma tank. Help please.
 
Hey every one a got my first proper tank the other day ( 25L fluval chi) cause my Betta cube nano. Decided to break. Well heres the problem I had got new fish ( 1 Betta splenda and 2 balloon mollies). So I set. Up the tank and my fish were getting on great and one of my mollies gave birth. Then iv all of a sudden lost both mollies plus babies and losing my Betta. But researching on the net I have reliesed that I need to cylce ma tank. Help please.

Google is your friend. You must understand the basics regarding cycling and how to achieve it safely. AA is also your friend, read up and I wish you luck.


“The process known as cycling is a way of cultivating necessary bacteria in a new aquarium. The bacteria are necessary to decompose the waste products produced by fish and other inhabitants in the aquarium. An aquarium will always need a combination of suitable bacteria cultures and frequent water changes to stay clean and provide the fish with a good environment. If you add fish to an improperly cycled aquarium they can quickly fall ill or even die, since their waste products will pollute the water.”
AMMONIA,,,,,,,NITRITE,,,,,,,,NITRATE thats the cycle.
 
kenny69 said:
Google is your friend. You must understand the basics regarding cycling and how to achieve it safely. AA is also your friend, read up and I wish you luck.


“The process known as cycling is a way of cultivating necessary bacteria in a new aquarium. The bacteria are necessary to decompose the waste products produced by fish and other inhabitants in the aquarium. An aquarium will always need a combination of suitable bacteria cultures and frequent water changes to stay clean and provide the fish with a good environment. If you add fish to an improperly cycled aquarium they can quickly fall ill or even die, since their waste products will pollute the water.”
AMMONIA,,,,,,,NITRITE,,,,,,,,NITRATE thats the cycle.

Thanks kenny. Av heard that neon tretras can help. Is there any truth to that.
 
Thanks kenny. Av heard that neon tretras can help. Is there any truth to that.

Neon Tetras are okay I guess, however go to your local fish store and strike up a conversation with them, they should help you out regarding the best fish to do it with, and also explain it all to you. You can also do what’s called a fishless cycle, involves adding ammonia ( WITHOUT ANY FISH) I'm in Australia and pure ammonia is hard to get as it's on the gov anti terrorist hit list of stuff you can't get, so I am doing it with cichlids, very slowly though. I also have a 100gal tank so it will take me quite some time. You need to get the following API test kits; Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and of course PH. read read read.

(PS Tetras don't generally live more than 12 months anyway so you might have them die on you still and think you’re doing something wrong when infact your not, they just die)
 
Aw man that sucks. I like bettas would love a black and red crown tail. Thanks for the list. And the advise on neons.
 
Aw man that sucks. I like bettas would love a black and red crown tail. Thanks for the list. And the advise on neons.

Bettas (or as we call them here in Oz Siamese fighting fish) do okay in a tropical tank with mollies and tetras, I had one live for well over 12 months in a 3ft community talk a few years back. Just don't put more than one betta in there lol them you will see why we call them Siamese fighting fish hehe
 
Yeh a prefer calling them fighters as well. Yeh that's just asking for trouble. Same with male guppies. I had a fighter before lasted 6 month then got dropsey
 
I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It started out so good. Please don't beat yourself up. Yours is a VERY common mistake. If you read through some of the other posts, you'll see a lot of OOPS I didn't know about cycling my tank first. The LFS is no help in this area, they want to sell you as much as you'll buy.
There isn't a lot you can do to save your dying Betta unless you know someone with a cycled tank who will take your Betta in while you cycle your tank.
If not and your Betta is suffering, you may need to....I don't like even saying it. But it is better than watching it suffer.
Once the tank is empty of fish you can start your fishless cycle. I'm not an expert on this, I've always cycled with fish. It's a lot of work with fish and they need to be very hardy fish.
If your doing a fishless cycle there are a couple of ways to start. One is start with fresh water and then add a capful of detergent free Ammonia. You can get it at your local hardware store.
If you know anyone with a cycled tank that has spare filter media that already has bacteria, it will speed up the process.
If not don't worry it will still work just a little slower.
If you don't want to add ammonia you can add food and let it disintegrate into ammonia. This can be messy, so I put a lot of fish pellet food into a small mesh bag and let it dissolve away. That way I don't have any fuzzy chunks to clean out of the tank. How you start is up to you>
Almost forgot, before you start anything you will need an API Freshwater Master test kit. Strips are a waste of money and they aren't accurate at all. The best price for the test kit is www.bigalsonline.com , it's only $19.99 compared to Petsmarts $31.99.
There is also an article called; Beginner FAQ: Practical Water Chemistry.
What you need to know about water chemistry, and why.
It's not long but it will help and it will give you something to read while you wait for your test kit to arrive.
There are also numerous articles on how to cycle your tank. Which is a better idea than me typing it out step by step.
After you've read how it's done and you have your test kit, if you have some questions then please ask again. There are a lot of people here that like to help.This is a great place to get help, but the more you read and educate yourself, the better off you and your future fish will be.
If not me someone will be here for you, what ever you need to know.



 
WendiDell said:
I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It started out so good. Please don't beat yourself up. Yours is a VERY common mistake. If you read through some of the other posts, you'll see a lot of OOPS I didn't know about cycling my tank first. The LFS is no help in this area, they want to sell you as much as you'll buy.
There isn't a lot you can do to save your dying Betta unless you know someone with a cycled tank who will take your Betta in while you cycle your tank.
If not and your Betta is suffering, you may need to....I don't like even saying it. But it is better than watching it suffer.
Once the tank is empty of fish you can start your fishless cycle. I'm not an expert on this, I've always cycled with fish. It's a lot of work with fish and they need to be very hardy fish.
If your doing a fishless cycle there are a couple of ways to start. One is start with fresh water and then add a capful of detergent free Ammonia. You can get it at your local hardware store.
If you know anyone with a cycled tank that has spare filter media that already has bacteria, it will speed up the process.
If not don't worry it will still work just a little slower.
If you don't want to add ammonia you can add food and let it disintegrate into ammonia. This can be messy, so I put a lot of fish pellet food into a small mesh bag and let it dissolve away. That way I don't have any fuzzy chunks to clean out of the tank. How you start is up to you>
Almost forgot, before you start anything you will need an API Freshwater Master test kit. Strips are a waste of money and they aren't accurate at all. The best price for the test kit is www.bigalsonline.com , it's only $19.99 compared to Petsmarts $31.99.
There is also an article called; Beginner FAQ: Practical Water Chemistry.
What you need to know about water chemistry, and why.
It's not long but it will help and it will give you something to read while you wait for your test kit to arrive.
There are also numerous articles on how to cycle your tank. Which is a better idea than me typing it out step by step.
After you've read how it's done and you have your test kit, if you have some questions then please ask again. There are a lot of people here that like to help.This is a great place to get help, but the more you read and educate yourself, the better off you and your future fish will be.
If not me someone will be here for you, what ever you need to know.

Thank you for ur help very much appreciated.
 
Hi Welcome from Virginia Beach, Virginia. This is a great site with very knowledgeable folks. Good luck and you'll find a plethora of info here.
 
A lot of people make this mistake! Just do your homework, Google things, post threads here, and Yahoo Answers is a big help too. Cycling your tank takes time, you need to be patient. It will all be worth it in the long run.
 
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